Real Size Models On The Runway In London: We Want To Hear What You Think!

Sure, there have been some strides on the runways in recent seasons where models' size is concerned, but the truth is, your comments throughout fashion week made me realize how far we still have to go. "The girls were so skinny!" and "Someone get those poor girls cheeseburgers stat!" were just a few of the murmurs we heard about the mannequins last week. So I'd love to know what you gals think about the designer Mark Fast's casting this weekend in London...

Sure, there have been some strides on the runways in recent seasons where models' size is concerned, but the truth is, your comments throughout fashion week made me realize how far we still have to go. "The girls were so skinny!" and "Someone get those poor girls cheeseburgers stat!" were just a few of the murmurs we heard about the mannequins last week. So I'd love to know what you gals think about the designer Mark Fast's casting this weekend in London...

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Models parade down the catwalk during the Mark Fast fashion show at the Topshop Venue, University of Westminster, on September 19, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

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When designers try to "diversify" their runways, they usually wind up up doing something completely gimmicky that has the opposite intended effect. Remember when Carlos Campos cast only black women in his show last season? It definitely made a statement, but it was about as "diverse" as a runway full of 104-pound, 17-year old, Eastern European blondes. And when Jean Paul Gaultier sent a size-20 model down his runway in 2006, the whole thing had a little air of exploitation. Why, when we're trying to democratize style and make everyone feel welcome in the fashion world and well-represented on the runways, do we resort to such contrived and, frankly, kinda childish tactics?

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: A model walks down the catwalk during the Mark Fast fashion show at the Topshop Venue, University of Westminster, on September 19, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

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Enter Mark Fast, who nonchalantly put three average-sized women (or plus size, if we're talking in fashion terms here) into his lineup without making any kind of fuss over it at all. "My clothes are for women of all shapes and sizes," the designer told Grazia. No press release, no obnoxiously inappropriate clothes meant to make the wearers look silly and overweight, no self-righteous mission statement, no publicity ploys. Just three normal women, making his clothes look gorgeous, walking randomly in between the size 2s we've come to expect on the catwalk. Of course, the show was unfortunately not without incident--reports have surfaced that the stylist Fast hired refused to work with the size-10-and-up models, which only sheds a brighter light on fashion's weight bias and further cements why we need designers like Fast in the first place.

Scroll through the full collection now on style.com and let us know what you think about Mark's decision to include average-size women in his runway show. Are you happy that he handled it in such an unassuming way? Do you feel like these women better represent your reality than the rest of the models we saw stomping around on the New York runways? Would you like to see more models like these? DISCUSS!